JUKEBOX | BOB DYLAN | SUBTERRANEAN HOMESICK BLUES

— T u e s d a y T u n e s —SUBTERRANEANHOMESICK BLUES B O B D Y L A N was originally released in 1965. It was Dylan’s first Top 40 hit in the U.S.

The first line is a reference to codeine distillation and politics of the time — “Johnny’s in the basement mixing up the medicine / I’m on the pavement thinkin’ about the Government”…

The song also depicts some of the growing conflicts between “straight” or “square” (40-hour workers) and the emerging 1960s counterculture.

The widespread use of recreational drugs, and turmoil surrounding the Vietnam War were both starting to take hold of the nation, and Dylan’s hyperkinetic lyrics were dense with up-to-the-minute allusions to important emerging elements in the 1960s youth culture.

According to rock journalist Andy Gill “an entire generation recognized the zeitgeist in the verbal whirlwind of Subterranean Homesick Blues.”
In 2004 Dylan said “It’s from Chuck Berry, a bit of ‘Too Much Monkey Business’ and some of the scat songs of the ’40s.”

Dylan has also stated that when he reached the University of Minnesota in 1959, he fell under the influence of the Beat scene..
“It was Jack Kerouac, Ginsberg, Corso and Ferlinghetti.”

Kerouac’s ‘The Subterraneans’ a novel published in 1958 about the Beats, has been suggested as a possible inspiration for the song’s title.

The song also references the struggles surrounding the American civil rights movement [“Better stay away from those / That carry around a fire hose”].

During the civil rights movement, peaceful protestors were beaten and sprayed with high pressure fire hoses. Despite the political nature of the lyrics, the song went on to become the first Top 40 hit for Dylan in the United States.

John Lennon was reported to find the song so captivating that he didn’t know how he’d be able to write a song that could compete with it.

In addition to the song’s influence on music, the song was used in what became one of the first “modern” promotional film clips, the forerunner of what later became known as the music video. The original clip was actually the opening segment of D. A. Pennebaker’s film ‘Don’t Look Back’ a documentary on Bob Dylan’s 1965 tour of England. In the film Dylan, who came up with the idea, holds up cue cards for the audience, with selected words and phrases from the lyrics.

The cue cards were written by Donovan, Allen Ginsberg, Bob Neuwirth and Dylan himself.While staring at the camera, he flips the cards as the song plays.
There are intentional misspellings and puns throughout the clip: for instance, when the song’s lyrics say “eleven dollar bills” the poster says “20 dollar bills”.
The clip was shot in an alley behind the Savoy Hotel in London where Ginsberg and Neuwirth make a cameo in the background. Thanks to the back of the Savoy Hotel retaining much of the same exterior as in 1965, the alley used in the video sequence has been identified as the Savoy Steps.

Dylan’s early focus on rock and roll gave way to an interest in American folk music; in 1985, Dylan explained the attraction that folk music had exerted on him:

“The thing about rock’n’roll is that for me anyway it wasn’t enough … There were great catch-phrases and driving pulse rhythms … but the songs weren’t serious or didn’t reflect life in a realistic way. I knew that when I got into folk music, it was more of a serious type of thing. The songs are filled with more despair, more sadness, more triumph, more faith in the supernatural, much deeper feelings.” Source — diluted wiki and google images

Lyrics

Johny’s in the basement Mixing up the medicine I’m on the pavement Thinking about the government The man in the trench coat Badge out, laid off Says he’s got a bad cough Wants to get it paid off Look out kid It’s somethin’ you did God knows when But you’re doin’ it again You better duck down the alley way Lookin’ for a new friend The man in the coon-skip cap In the big pen Wants eleven dollar bills You only got ten.

Maggie comes fleet foot Face full of black soot Talkin’ that the heat put Plants in the bed but The phone’s tapped anyway Maggie says that many say They must bust in early May Orders from the DA Look out kid Don’t matter what you did Walk on your tip toes Don’t try, ‘No Doz’ Better stay away from those That carry around a fire hose Keep a clean nose Watch the plain clothes You don’t need a weather man To know which way the wind blows.

Get sick, get well Hang around an ink well Ring bell, hard to tell If anything is goin’ to sell Try hard, get barred Get back, write Braille Get jailed, jump bail Join the army, if you failed Look out kid You’re gonna get hit But losers, cheaters Six-time users Hang around the theaters Girl by the whirlpool Lookin’ for a new fool Don’t follow leaders Watch the parkin’ meters.

Ah get born, keep warm Short pants, romance, learn to dance Get dressed, get blessed Try to be a success Please her, please him, buy gifts Don’t steal, don’t lift Twenty years of schoolin’ And they put you on the day shift Look out kid They keep it all hid Better jump down a manhole Light yourself a candle Don’t wear sandals Try to avoid the scandals Don’t wanna be a bum You better chew gum The pump don’t work ‘Cause the vandals took the handles.